Since generation, analyzing and interpreting behavior of literary characters is a great

attraction for the literary critics, their main focus on the comprehension of the inner psychic
processes of the literary characters and their resultant behavior. Apart from Freud’s
psychoanalytic theory, there are many other theories which can said aid in exploring the reason
for human behavior on such theory is Abraham H Maslow’s theory on Motivation .he is one of
the prominent Humanistic psychologist who has propounded the theory of Hierarchy of Needs
in his book Motivation and Personality (1954) while discussing the Motivation of human
behavior.

Anita Desai’s main concern is to depict the psychic states of her protagonists at some
crucial junctures of their lives, her function has attracted a lot of psychological exploration . This
paper is investigate in the character Maya, the main protagonist of her book Cry, the Peacock.
There can be various reasons for her neurotic behavior but the major reason of the turmoil in the
life of Maya her life can be directly assigned to the frustration of certain needs which are crucial
for maintaining one’s psychological and emotional balance. And Maslow’s theory of the
hierarchy of basic needs is based on the dissatisfaction from the lack of fulfillment of these needs
and what they can culminate into if enough attention is not paid to them. It emphasizes on many
fundamental needs. Once the fundamental need is fulfilled lower in the hierarchy other needs go
on arising till the human being reaches the need for self-actualization
 mortality,creativity,spontan
eity,problem solving, lack of
preudice,acceptance of fact
Self actualization

self-
Esteem
esteem,confidence,achievement,
respect of others,respect by
others
Love/Belongin friendship, family,sexual
gg intimacy
security of:
Safety
body,employment,resources,mortali
ty,the family,health,property
Physiological breathing,food,water,sex,sleep,homeostasis,excretion

The pyramid depicts the various needs humans have. These needs have been divided and
distributed at several levels . contary to the pyramid structure . the needs on top are the weakest
as they can only be achieved after all the others have been fulfilled according to Maslow human
needs arrange themeselves in hierarchy of pre-potency of one needussually rests on the prior
satisfaction of other more pre-potent need. Man is perpetually wanting animal.also no need or
drive can be can be treated as if it were isolated or discrte; every drive is related to state of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction of other drive.(Maslow 7)

According to Maslow all have psychological survival needs which include need for safety,
for love, for belongingness,for self esteem, and finally for self actualization. When we talk about
Maya’s unfulfilled needs, this paper mainly focuses on the third level of the hierarchy love and
belongingness, the most basic need which person requires from his/her very birth after the
gratification of physiological need is the saftey need. Once a child feels safe and secure , grows
into a healthy child. There after comes the realization of the need for feelings of belonging,of
love, the appearance of one need generally depends on the satisfaction of the other.

The need of safety it comprises of the need of physical security for oneself, stability,
dependency, protection, freedom from fear, from anxiety and chaos , need for structure order,
law, limits, strength in the protector .(Maslow 45) as there is a direct correlation between
frustration and psychopathology, it is easy to accept ‘basic need frustration as a major
determinant of hostility in a person which becomes evident in Maya when her saftey needs are
not met. The thwarted security needs devlop feeling of restlessness and frustration in Maya . it
impairs her perception and adjusments. She becomes obsessed by the fear of impending death .
the thwarted safety need blocks her process of self-actualization (index citation)

Neurosis as deficiency disease

Most neurosis involved along with other complex determinants ungrratified wishes for safety, for
belongingness, and identification for close relationship and for respect and prestige.(Maslow 21)

The unfulfilled needs of Maya turn into mental illness(neurosis). And she kills her husband
retrogresses to the state of her childhood and tries to end her life too. She gets strapped by
neurotic anxity because of the stress due to frustration of unfulfilled need in the hierarchy.
According to this paper the researcher belives her exaggerated reaction in the difficult situation
of her life is because of the deprived snse of belongingness and love in her life both before and
after her marriage. Her neurosis arises because this factor . the want of love and sense of
belongingness. People have different approaches of cop with anxity based on their childhood
training and perwsonality traits. Some cope with objectivity where as some incapble of doing so
developed neurotic anxity (Noval 135). Individuals experiencing lonliness and isolation feel a
strong desire to ally. In the love need the person will feel kneely as never before the absence of
friend, or a sweet heart,or a wife or children (Maslow 19)Maya and her husband Gautama both
are contrasting tempraments. He never loves Maya in the wayb she expects. This incompatibility
build a wide gulf between the two , Maya’s husband was a practical man and neglects the
emotional yearing of Maya .They live together yet as a matter of fact Gautama knows very little
about her needs, about how she wants that affection ,love from him. Lack of proper response
from her husband that leads her into frustration .In the Motivation and personality Maslow
discuss about the belongingness

He believes that the tremendous and rapid increase in t-group and intentional communities
may in part belongingness and by the need to overcome the widspread feelings of alienation ,
aloneness, strangeness and lonliness, which have been worsened by our mobility, by the
breakdow of traditional groupings, the scattering of families, the generation gap,the steady
urbnization and disappearance of village face to faceness..(Maslow 44)

This is what exactly happened with Maya , when she was a child she grows under the shadow of
her father , he focouses all his attention on her . He offers her a life of protection and resultantly
of submission. She becomes emotinally dependent on her father .Maya from her childhood
regards the world as ‘A toy world’ specially made for her , painted in her childhood fantasies and
because of her marriage she left everything in lucknow her father’s home where she feels
happiest and at Gautama’s house, as maslow says our mobility unsatisfied our hunger of
belongingness.she started being lonely for the whole day .because of this she never satisfied with
the need of belongingness, she started comparing her husband with her father . When Gautama
returned from work, took me out, spoke to me and led me to a certain calm, then the brain fever
bird would begin again her mournful cry, upsetting me so violently that I would not be able to
sleep (Desai 35)

We can see by the above lines that she was not happy at all.

Another spring after more idyllic one , for it is at home, in Lucknow .i have been strolling
admidst the vegetables with father – he takes an intrest (Desai 35).

We can examine that she constantly, comparing her father’s love , the place where she brought
up ,where she has enjoyed her childhood; her lucknow house .She was expecting the same kind
of love and affaction from gautama .Maya gets an apparent companionship from Gautama which
dose not satisfy her real need for love and belongingnesss, shae comes from different tradition
than Gautama .the huge age difference in maya and Gautama was one of the contributing factors
in their martial struggle.She never feels her own with Gautama and his house.
 Strong in pression is also that some proportion of youth rebellion groups I don’t know
how many or how much is togetherness in the face of a common enemy, any enemy that can
serve to form an amity group simply by posing an external treat, the same kind of thing was
observed in groups of soldiers who were pushed into an unwanted brotherliness and intimacy by
their commob external danger(Maslow 44).

Here Maslow gives an example of soldiers, explaining in the life of Maya there was a Toto a dog
,she was very attached with her dog because Gautama was too busy in his work and for the
whole day Maya was alone in the house everyday , and Toto was the only one who filled the gap
of loneliness, emptiness in Maya’s life .Toto was the one who really makes her happy. But after
the death of Toto she was alone to fight against her enemy,she loses all the fighting spirit
because when ot was alive she has that strength to fight against with her enemy her enemy was
loneliness,so Maya at many instances is seen cribbing about the non reversing of love and
concern from Gautama’s side . when she undergoes utter emotional turmoil. Because of the death
of her Dog she became very upset and at that time she need some affection.But Gautama’s
unfriendly and apathetical attitude over her dog’s death is seen in following lines;

‘You need a cup of tea’. He said .’ yes’ , I cried, yes , it is hardness- no no , not hardness , but the
distance he coldly keeps from me his coldness, and incessant talks of cup of tea and philosophy
in order not to hear me talk and talking reveal myself . it is that –my loneliness in this house
(Desai 14).

Despite living together they remain alien to each other’s emotions. Upper lines are indicative of
the physical, mental, and emotional isolation torments that Maya struggles in pursuit to relate to
Gautama.

In our society the thwarting of these needs is the most commonaly found core in case of
Maladjustment and more severe psychopathology. Love and affection, as well as their possible
expression in sexuality, are generally looked upon with ambivalence and are customarily hedged
about with many restrictions and inhibitions. Practically all theorists of psychology have stressed
thwarting of love needs as basic in the picture of Maladjustment (Maslow 44).

Maladjustment is term used in psychology to refer the ‘inability to react successfully and
satisfactory to the demand of one’s environment.it can be Intrinsic or Extrinsic.
Intrinsic Maladjustment is the disparities between the needs, motivations and evaluation of an
individual.with the actual reward again through experience. Extrinsic maladjustment on the other
hand is refer to when an individual’s behaviour is does not meet the culture or social expectation
of society.

Maya was suffering from extrinsic maladjustment.the discrepancy between what she needs and
what she gets harsh reality, pushes her into appalling anguish. Therefore she is a loner who
grapples to win some understanding out of an intensely privatization world of personal emotions.
If Maya could sublimate her frustrated needs , it could have reduced her nurosis. Attitudinal
difference imposes a psychic struggle in Maya’s mind, leading to her psychic disintegration. She
fails to live as contributing member of the society and develops impulsiveness which is a
symptom of psychopathology.

Conclusion

In the conclusion this paper contributes in highlighting the major reason of the psychic turmoil in
the life of Maya, directly assigned to the frustration caused due to the lack of fulfillment of
certain needs which are crucial for maintaining one’s psychological and emotional balance. This
paper mainly focuses on the third need of human motivation hierarchy need ‘love and
belongingness’ but in the opening section of this paper there are some brief introduction of first
and second needs physiological need and safety needs, this paper gives some specific arguments
with the reference of this novel that how these needs are important in humans psychic and the
need could not satisfied how it affects on humans psychic and deprived psychic turmoil because
the frustration due to the lack of the fulfillment of certain needs. The objective of this paper is to
contribute that there are major importance of love, affection, belongingness and family for a
healthy life. If such needs does not satisfied then how deeply they get affected and react to
situations, we can see it from Maya’s character.
 BIBLOGRAPHY

1] Desai, Anita, Cry, the peacock. New Delhi. Orient paperbacks,2017. Print.

2] Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row Pubishers, 1954.
Print.

3] Maslow, Abraham. A Theory of Human Motivation. Washington: Watchmaker Publishing,

2013. Print.

4] Noval,Sangeetha. “A Psychological study of Maya vis-à-vis Maslow’s hierarchy of needs”.

International Journal Of English Language, Literature and Translation Studies Vol. 4.
Issue.1.,2017(jan-mar.),pp. 135-139.

I have no checked MLA edition 8, but I think the bibliography is incorrect.